Birgitta Schwartz has been involved with SSES since the spring of 2014. Throughout the years she has served as the Course Director for Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries and also taught the course Social Entrepreneurship. Before joining SSES, she spent decades working on issues of sustainability and sustainable development, both as a teacher and a researcher, in Sweden and abroad. She wrote her doctoral thesis in 1997 on organizations’ environmental strategies and how companies such as Volvo and The Body Shop deal with environmental requirements. We sat her down to ask her some questions about the topic, why it matters and what she enjoys most about teaching.
What is your educational background? (university education(s) and field(s))
I have a Bachelor’s Degree from Stockholm university in Business (Ekonomprogrammet), a PhD from Gothenburg Business School at Gothenburg University and currently, and I am a professor at Stockholm Business School at Stockholm University.
What are you teaching at SSES?
I am the Course Director for the course Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries.
What is your previous work experience?
I have worked as a senior lecturer at Mälardalen University and as a management consultant at Roland Berger and Partner, one of Germany’s largest management consulting firms. But I also tried many jobs (receptionist, telephone operator, postman, animal keeper for cats etc.) during my time as a student and voluntary work for the organisation Blå Stjärnan.
Name one or several of your unexpected skills.
I was engaged as stable director for the world championships in riding (World Equestrian Games) in Stockholm in 1990, organising the stables for 800 horses near the centre of Stockholm city.
What is the best thing about being part of SSES?
Teaching students from different schools with different competencies and experiences in the same class is great. Usually, the students in my classes are from SU, KTH and SSE and sometimes, a few are from KI or KFK. The mix of these students in group project work is interesting to follow, and how they learn from each other.
